8 O'Clock Buzz

An October report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that Wisconsin kindergarteners are less likely to be vaccinated against diseases such as polio, pertussis, diphtheria and tetanus, measles, mumps, and rubella than are their counterparts in other states.  For example, only 84% of Wisconsin kids were up to date on their measles vaccine, compared with the national average of 92%.
Meanwhile, with noted vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. preparing to take the helm at the Department of Health and Human Services, we can expect vaccine hesitancy to rise.
Dominique Brossard is the Chair of the University of Wisconsin Department of Health Science Communication, and is co-director of the Science, Media and the Public Research Group.  The Monday Eight o’Clock Buzz invited Dr. Brossard to join us and comment on the current state of public opinion on vaccinations.
Featured image courtesy Wisconsin Department of Health Services
Web posting by WORT producer Nicholas Wootton
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As COP29, United Nations annual conference to discuss climate policies, winds down, Daren Coughron, Legislative Manager at the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) and attendee at the conference, talks about some of the discussions and agreements that came out of the meeting. FCNL is also pushing Congress to vote on the “Farm Bill” which will help farmers integrate ecologically sound farm practices.
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Winter isn’t time to forget about your garden. Dane County Extension Horticulture Outreach Specialist, Lisa Johnson, talks about compost, what you can do in your garden to help over-wintering insects, leaves on your lawn and garden, the biodiversity crisis, tree care, the Dane County Tree Board, and more.
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Today on the Too Turnt Up Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Tara Wilhelmi, featuring Lolo Lature with special guest RR Moore, talking seriously on Tara’s birthday about racism in the wake of Trump’s re-election.
Tracking Hate from The Black Wall St Times: https://theblackwallsttimes.com/2024/11/14/tracking-hate-a-list-of-hateful-acts-since-trumps-24-election-win/
Racist texts on the Madison campus: https://www.dailycardinal.com/article/2024/11/uw-madison-students-receive-racist-text-messages-as-part-of-nationwide-incident 
Upcoming Events

December 6th at the Black Business Hub, 2024 Dane County Business and Entrepreneur Expo Noon-3, panel talk featuring Tara at 1PM.
Lots of events for entrepreneurs in Milwaukee at the Ambition Center, check their website: https://www.ambitioncentermke.org/ 

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In 2016, workers in the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba started reporting concussion-like symptoms – dizziness, headaches and nausea – but with no obvious head trauma.  Since then, similar reports of what American officials call “anomalous health incidents” have emerged with federal civilian and military personnel stationed in Russia, China and Austria, all with no readily apparent cause.
The National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. intelligence community have suggested that one plausible cause might be – strange as it might seem – pulsed microwave radiation beams aimed at U.S. installations. Now, a team of University of Wisconsin researchers, led by Professor Christian Franck, have obtained a grant to investigate how pulsed microwave beams might affect the brain.
Christian Franck is the Bjorn Borgen Professor and H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellow at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the director of the UW PANTHER lab, which studies brain trauma.
Professor Franck paid a visit to the 8 O’Clock Buzz studio to describe his research to Buzz host Brian Standing.
Web posting by WORT Producer Nicholas Wootton
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Earlier this month, the City of Madison Department of Planning and Development announced that it had negotiated a lease with Maurer’s Urban Market to open a grocery store in the Park Cedar apartment building on Madison’s South Park Street. The store is anticipated to open in the summer of 2025.
In a statement, Public Information Officer Jaymes Langrehr said that the lease marks the city’s fulfillment of a promise to keep South Madison from becoming a “food desert.”
But what is a “food desert,” anyway? How does city government get involved in negotiating with a private business?
Daniel Rolfs is the Real Estate Development Manager for the City of Madison, and he joined Monday 8 O’Clock Buzz host Brian Standing to talk more about it. And he says that a food desert is, well, not easy to define.
Photo of proposed building site courtesy City of Madison website.
Web posting by WORT Producer Nicholas Wootton.
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Despite campaign promises by Trump to support Social Security, he has nominated Dr. Oz to head the agency over Social Security and Medicare; Oz, a man who owns over a half million dollars worth of Medicare Advantage stock. In the group’s recent paper “Republicans Are Already Breaking Trump’s Promise to Protect Social Security“, Social Security Works talks about a number of ways Social Security and Medicare are already being sabotaged.
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Luis Velasquez, Organizer at Voces de la Frontera, talks about the goals of their state-wide organization, including workers’ rights, immigrant rights, voter organizing, citizenship for all, and more.
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